Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson are two poets who contributed great works of art to American society. Although they were poets from the same time period, they were extremely different from each other. They had a few similarities, but they were vastly different people. Emily Dickinson was more of a dark, serious person, whereas Walt Whitman was more at ease with himself, and seemed comfortable in his own skin. In the following paragraphs, I am going to compare and contrast the poems I Hear America Singing, by Walt Whitman, and Success is counted sweetest, by Emily Dickinson. First of all, in Success is counted sweetest, Emily Dickinson talks about different feelings of success. In the first stanza, Dickinson says that to really appreciate success, you have to really want it and work toward it. She goes on to say that with giving the ultimate gift, which is a soldier dying in a battle, that he now knows the clear meaning of success. This poem is about success and having pride in knowing the hard work you put in to something to gain achievement.
             In I Hear America Singing, Walt Whitman describes many different sounds and emotions related to trade laborers. He tells you what a carpenter, or a shoemaker is doing, not only doing their job, but also singing. Walt Whitman says at the end "singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs." He is saying that they are proud of their work, and happy with their success. Now, I am going to compare and contrast the Success is counted sweetest, and I Hear America Singing. In Walt Whitman's poem, I Hear America Singing, he is more joyful and descriptive. One can imagine the scene, a worker sawing, or a girl working. Whitman uses everyday words; he has a more straightforward approach to poetry than Dickinson does. Dickinson uses more of a poetic imagery to evoke a darker tone to the poem. The words she uses are more intellectual, not at all everyday language. The imagery she u...